Five pooches, including a dog named Stinky, inducted into Animal Hall of Fame

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Travis Mosher looks up as he holds a medal and a picture of his grandmothers Glenda Mosher dog Scooter, a 12-year-old Australian Cattle Dog that has since passed away, after saving his Grandmothers life from a mad cow along with Missy, a six year-old Border Collie during the 2011 Purina Animal Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Toronto on Monday, May 16, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO - A group of Canadian soldiers struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder could barely face leaving their homes and even contemplated suicide before they met Stinky.

But the 10-year-old Rottweiler from Winnipeg was the perfect medicine for the traumatized combat veterans and helped them regain their lives after returning home.

Stinky, who is part of unique therapy dog program aimed at helping soldiers deal with life after war, was honoured with the service dog of the year award on Monday. She was one of five dogs inducted into Purina's Animal Hall of Fame.

Her owner George Leonard calls Stinky "a true hero" for helping pull several soldiers back from the brink of despair.

One of the soldiers Stinky worked with who was featured in a video presentation during Monday's ceremony says the dog saved his life.

"When I was at my lowest point there, and I thought about doing some pretty crazy things, I remember one day in particular we were up gabbing there and she just put her head in my lap," said the soldier, who was only identified as Jeff. "I got an anchor here, I got some support, I've hit rock bottom. That dog, thank God that dog was with me. Having her around definitely saved my life."

Leonard says Stinky has helped other soldiers who were struggling like Jeff.

"Through their journals that they keep and information that they provide to us, four of them have indicated that they would have done harm to themselves had they not had a properly trained service dog," said Leonard.

Some of the soldiers Stinky has been loaned to are so traumatized they don't leave their homes except for a five-minute trip to Safeway for groceries, said Leonard.

"What the dog does, is it provides a nice stable base for them to safely go out into the public," said Leonard, who works for Manitoba Search and Rescue.

A lot of soldiers struggle to sleep, but with a 60-kilogram Rottweiler lying on the floor next to them, they no longer have a problem, Leonard said.

Stinky, who was originally named Nikki before a run-in with two skunks and a roll in some manure, has taken the lead in the psychiatric therapy dog program Leonard created after he adopted her as a puppy.

Stinky has worked with six severely traumatized veterans and is due to retire in two months. She has been training puppies to carry on her work.

The program, which has 26 dogs, plans to partner with a similar Ottawa-based initiative called Courageous Companions.

As their framed pictures were unveiled during Monday's festivities, red ribbons with a medal were hung around the necks of Stinky, and three family pets — K'os, Moose and Missy. Scooter was inducted posthumously during a ceremony at the hall.

K'os, Linda and Jason Guindon's two-year-old French Neapolitan mastiff in Peterborough, Ont., barked and jumped on their bed, alerting them to their teenage son's severe seizure. The boy, who has cystic fibrosis, was later diagnosed with epilepsy.

Barking from Moose, a two-year-old whippet from Trenton, Ont., brought Jolene Sararas into her backyard, where she found her three-year-old daughter Alexis, whose neck was trapped in a gate held shut by a bungee cord.

Scooter, a 12-year-old Australian Cattle Dog, and Missy, a six-year-old border collie from Cherhill, Alta., saved owner Glenda Mosher who was attacked by a cow and suffered numerous broken bones. Scooter died last month.

Since its creation in 1968, more than 150 animals have been inducted into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame.